Teen pleads guilty to assault with rusty scissors

A Keremeos teenager was sentenced to a nine month suspended sentence in Princeton court last week after pleading guilty to assault with a weapon.

He was also ordered to submit a DNA sample for the national data base.

It was the second time the 14-year-old entered a guilty plea. Last month the judge struck that plea down after the youth disputed some of the facts set forth by the crown.

“He wishes to re-enter his guilty plea and deal with the matter,” said defense attorney Norman Yates.

The boy, who cannot be identified under the Young Offenders Act, admitted he pulled a pair of rusty red-handled scissors on a friend, after an evening of smoking marijuana at a campsite near Hedley.

The Crown said he then “went on a rampage” at the campsite, and was eventually taken home by his father. Court heard the accused and the victim were one-time best friends.

Judge Michelle Daneliuk said the circumstances of the crime were “extremely unfortunate…it does not seem to make any sense.”

Yates submitted that exceptions would have to be made to the boy’s release conditions as the accused and victim live in the same small town and attend the same school.

The guilty teen is not allowed within 50 meters of the victim’s home, and is only permitted incidental contact with the victim during school activities.

“You are not to talk to him or hang out with him,” said Daneliuk. “If you see him on the street I expect you to cross the street and walk the other way…If you are in a store and he comes into the store, you leave the store.”

A weapons’ prohibition was part of the sentence.

“You are going to end up with a criminal record now until you are 18,” said Daneliuk. “I am focusing today on rehabilitation.”